


The Gentleman's Harlot

by BladeoftheNebula



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Regency, Getting Together, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Misunderstandings, Pining, Prostitution, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-18 00:09:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29109093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BladeoftheNebula/pseuds/BladeoftheNebula
Summary: Steve understood that his position in life meant they could never truly be together - he just hadn't thought it would hurt so much to find out Lord Stark was engaged.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 32
Kudos: 232
Collections: POTS (18+) Stony Stocking 2020





	The Gentleman's Harlot

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mayamoksin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mayamoksin/gifts).
  * In response to a prompt by [mayamoksin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mayamoksin/pseuds/mayamoksin) in the [stony_stocking_2020](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/stony_stocking_2020) collection. 



> **Prompt:  
>  1) mayamoksin  
> Regency Era FWB and mutual pining.**
> 
> I took a bit of a broad interpretation of FWB but I hope you like it! ❤️
> 
> Thanks to Kait and Musilver for the beta ❤️

“It’s ridiculous to feel this way. I know that.”

“It is,” Natasha agreed. Then she sighed. “But you are not the first this has happened to and you won’t be the last. If it makes you feel better, I was inclined to believe he cared for you too.”

Steve pulled his robe more tightly around himself. “I just thought he was different.”

It was foolish. When Steve had first started whoring the first thing the lady of the house had warned him was not to fall in love with his clients. __

_ “They want the illusion, but that’s all it is. A fantasy.” Mistress Fury had told him, her one good eye fixed on him. “Don’t confuse it for anything real because once they’ve come, they don’t care.” _

Steve hadn’t found that difficult to remember for the most part. They were an upmarket cat house, entertaining some of the wealthier members of the ton, but that’s all they were. Entertainment. And for the most part, Steve didn’t mind. He hadn’t come here with some grand plan of being rescued. He’d just wanted to make enough money to keep his mother in some sense of comfort, and Fury paid well provided you were able to do the work. She even allowed those who were with child to stay on after, paying for schooling for the little ones and keeping them fed. Everyone knew she was a soft touch, even though she tried to hide it. 

So Steve was not looking for anything better, he was fine earning a living on his back or on his knees, and had no delusions of grandeur. 

Until  _ he _ came to visit. 

Mr Stark. Well, Lord Stark now his father had recently passed. Steve had not seen him since before the news of the previous lord’s death had been announced. 

Lord Stark, a bachelor and one of the most influential young men of the ton. Every meddling parent wanted him as their son-in-law, the spouse of a titled gentleman too enticing for anyone well-versed in the marriage mart. 

Fury had sent him to Steve on his first visit, part of a drunken party looking for some fun, and he’d never looked at any of the others after that, even though he visited the house at least once a week. 

“Why would I?” Mr Stark had answered one evening, lying sated in Steve’s room. “I already have the attention of the finest creature in the establishment.”

Steve had flushed at that but brushed it off. “Oh please Mr Stark, you’ve already had me, there is no need for flattery.”

“Your lack of vanity is one of your best qualities,” the gentleman observed, “but that does not mean you should go unpraised. There are paintings by some of the most talented artists in Europe that would pale in comparison to your big toe, let alone the rest of you.”

He was always saying things like that, calling Steve beautiful, making conversation before and after the act and taking a great interest in Steve’s life and his hobbies. Receiving gifts from clients was not unusual in this line of work, though it tended towards the romantic notions of the client rather than the whore. Flowers, sweets perhaps, maybe a trinket or two. But Mr Stark was different. 

The first gift Steve had received had been sketching papers and charcoal after he had mentioned he liked to draw, the next a fine robe after he’d admitted to sometimes being chilled between clients. Then novels to while away rainy days. Mr Stark had even given him extra coin to pay for the doctor when his mother had been ill and given Steve a basket of fruit to give her for his next visit. 

“It is nothing,” Mr Stark told him, waving a hand at his protestations. “I can help, so I shall. Why should your mother not have the best care if I can provide it?” 

They would, of course, be intimate every time, but Mr Stark would always pay for the full evening, and though they would fill much of it with pleasures of the flesh, there was ample time spent lying together speaking, reading aloud, and on a few memorable occasions, teaching Steve chess. 

Mr Stark was...kind. And very generous, not just with gifts either. Steve’s skin heated just to think of it - the brush of beard bristles against his chest, soft kisses and eager care taken that he might find release too. 

Steve was not shy about rewarding him for his gifts either, making sure to catalogue every gasp and groan so he might repeat the action and please the man as best he could. 

_ “Oh Mr Stark, yes, please, yes!” Steve groaned beneath him, wrapping his legs tight around the man’s hips. _

_ “You’re incredible,” Mr Stark breathed, shoving in harder and faster. “I want to see you fall apart.” _

_ Steve whined, making sure to arch his back knowing how the gentleman admired his chest, and pressing his fingers into the strong shoulders to encourage him further. The angle shifted, and suddenly there was a heavy pressure inside that made Steve cry out, Mr Stark kissing the sounds from his lips.  _

_ “Let go,” Mr Stark murmured, his hand reaching down to bring Steve to the edge of the precipice, his skin alight with fire. “Let me see.” _

_ “Ahhhhhhh,” Steve cried out his body snapping into an arch and then swiftly relaxing as he melted, Mr Stark panting heavily in his ear. _

_ “That was spectacular,” the man said, sounding frantic. “Really top-notch, you would make poets weep trying to think of a way to describe you like this.” _

_ “Enough,” Steve managed goodnaturedly. “Come, take your pleasure, sir. I wish to see it in turn.”  _

He looked forward to seeing him, more so than any of his other regulars. Most of the others were fine, simply looking for a warm body and a flirtatious smile, but Mr Stark always seemed to see  _ him.  _ He wouldn’t say he had expected anything to come of it as such - he wasn’t stupid, he knew his condition in life. He’d just gotten...attached that was all. 

_ No. _

He was not a coward. He could admit it, he had fallen in love with Mr Stark. 

When he hadn’t come for his usual visit, Steve had assumed it was grief. Understandable, though Steve would’ve liked to have held him and let him weep. But apparently, he had instead been hard at work, finding a spouse. 

And he’d known this day would come, he supposed he just hadn’t expected it to hurt as much as it did. At the very least, he thought Mr Stark would  _ tell _ him he would no longer be needing his services. 

Or perhaps he would still come to the house. And Steve would suffer his attentions, knowing there was someone with a far more legitimate claim to the man between his thighs, showing him such seemingly loving affection, than he’d ever had. The idea made him feel unwell. 

“So what will you do?” Natasha asked, stretching her long legs over the arm of the chair in the corner. “If he has made an offer of marriage I have no doubt it will be a quick engagement. Miss Bain’s parents won’t want to risk anything ruining such a fortuitous marriage. Soon you’ll be reading their marriage announcement in the papers, and how shall you be then?”

Steve curled up on his bed, his eyes flitting over the last of Mr Stark’s gifts, a little carved wooden horse he’d thought would Steve smile, and he’d been right. “Continue as I have been I suppose. Forget I ever knew him.”

“Can you do that?”

“I don’t have a choice.”

* * *

“Get up, get up,” Mistress Fury called as she wandered the halls. “The doors will open soon!”

Steve awoke still feeling tired and sluggish, even though he’d slept all day. His heart felt heavy, and with it, his whole body. 

The news of Mr Stark’s engagement was all anyone had to gossip about, though they tried to keep it from Steve’s ears. Even his clients had noticed his misery, more than one commenting on his lack of enthusiasm as they dressed to leave. Steve didn’t care, it wasn’t as if they hadn’t gotten what they’d paid for. 

He’d tried to throw out the wooden horse, a reminder of everything he’d never have, but couldn’t do it. Instead, it sat on his dresser, staring at him and his heartbreak. 

There was another shout from down the hall, and Steve forced himself up. He washed his face with water from a small jug and pulled on a tight-fitted shirt and his breeches. Not that they’d be on for long, but the mistress preferred them to look like a respectable establishment when clients entered the building - it let her charge more. 

He made his way down into the parlour, taking a seat on one of the couches as Natasha sat down behind him at the  _ pianoforte _ and began to play a soft but upbeat tune. Perhaps the night’s work would be enough to distract him, though he doubted it. 

The first of the clients began to trickle in as it got dark, the room lit by dim candlelight. The mistress paired them off with some of the newer members of the household and the room was soon humming with activity. Steve poured a glass of wine, drinking it quicker than he usually would. Perhaps he should visit his mother tomorrow. She’d lend a kind ear he was sure, though he’d have to sanitise his and Mr Stark’s meeting. He was pretty sure she knew what he was doing, but for his peace of mind, they never discussed it. 

He put his glass down just as Mistress Fury called over the music and chatter. “Ah, Lord Stark, how kind of you to grace us with your presence once again.”

Oh god. Steve slipped off the couch, ducking down out of sight beside Natasha who gave him a sympathetic look.

“Mistress Fury, you’re looking as ravishing as ever,” Mr Stark replied, and Steve could imagine so easily his rakish grin and Fury rolling her good eye. His heart ached as he yearned to see his face, but he kept himself tucked away unable to bear it.

“Flattery will get you everywhere,” Mistress Fury told him. “What are you interested in this evening?”

“I am here for Mr Rogers,” Mr Stark announced, and Steve didn’t know if the feeling swirling in his stomach was joy or dread.

“Of course, I’ll have him found and sent up to his room, are you after a full night or just a little fun?”

Steve couldn’t. He couldn’t look Tony in the face while they were so intimate knowing he would return to another soon after. He’d never minded being the whore, but the idea of being Mr Stark’s dirty secret was another thing altogether. 

“I’m afraid you misunderstand,” Mr Stark replied, and Steve peeked around Natasha’s back to get a look. He stood in the doorway, another gentleman at his side looking curiously around the room. “I am not here for that. I am here to make an offer of marriage.”

The room suddenly went quiet as the music cut out. Steve looked up to see Natasha staring at him in shock. 

“I see,” Mistress Fury said, sounding amused. “Well, I’m sure we can find him. Rogers!”

Steve felt frozen, unable to move, but Natasha reached down and tugged him up. “Move, you fool!”

As soon as he was vertical, his gaze locked on to a hopeful pair of brown eyes across the room. He was dreaming. He had to be.

“Mr Rogers,” Mr Stark said, walking to stand in front of him. “I have waited, my heart in agony for every moment I could not call you my husband, I have loved none but you since we met.”

Steve felt his face flush so hard he felt dizzy. “Mr Stark, I — ”

“Please,” he said softly. “Let me finish? I have practiced the words a thousand times in my head and I need you to hear them.”

Steve nodded, unable to do anything else as Mr Stark clasped his hands, kneeling in front of him.

“I am Lord Stark now, I can finally offer you all that you deserve. You will have the finest foods, books to read, a room for you to paint in, and your mother her own wing to live in comfort. Anything your heart desires will be yours, I will make it so. All I require is your answer to an important question.” Mr Stark looked at him, looking nervous but so full of hope Steve could barely stand it. “Will you do me the honour of becoming my husband?”

“But you can’t,” Steve managed, feeling so off-kilter he might fall to the floor. “You’re a lord, and I’m a whore, I’m ruined. People would talk.”

“They do little else, I do not care either way.”

Then Steve remembered the true source of his misery. “But you’re engaged to Miss Bain!”

This seemed to catch Lord Stark unawares. “I beg your pardon?”

“The whole town is abuzz with it. Miss Bain accepted your proposal and you’re to be married.”

“Not unless you can propose to someone without asking them,” Mr Stark replied with a frown. “I believe I would remember proposing to someone. I know I won’t forget this moment,” the last was said with a small smile to Steve that made his heart flutter. “But perhaps I ought to check. Rhodes!” He called out to the man by the door. “Have I made proposals to anyone else?”

Mr Rhodes snorted, amused. “Not that I recall, and I’ve been by your side since the funeral.”

Mr Stark grinned. “There you have it. I imagine Miss Bain has simply been trying to force my hand. Unfortunate she did not realise my interest lay elsewhere.”

Steve was grasping at excuses, unable to believe it could be so. “But you’ve never said anything like this, why now?”

“My father never would’ve allowed it, but now he is gone and I am my own man. If I am to be Lord Stark, I wish to run my estate with the kindest, wittiest and most handsome person by my side, and I know that to be you, Mr Rogers. Please, your answer?” His thumb rubbed over the skin of Steve’s hand. 

It was ridiculous, a fantasy. It could not be real. He was just a man from a poor upbringing, forced to sell his body to anyone who wished it. He could not possibly have a lord asking for his hand.

“This can’t be happening, I am dreaming,” Steve mumbled and Mr Stark gave him a smile. 

“I love you very much. And I would like nothing more than to wake up beside you till the end of my days. Will you have me?”

And really, what other answer could there be, to this Lord who would supplicate himself before someone of such low birth to prove his love? “Yes. I love you too, yes.”

Mr Stark’s face lit up in a beaming grin as he hopped to his feet. His hands came up to cup Steve’s cheeks, as he drew him in for a chaste kiss. Steve could hear the sounds of cheers from his housemates in his ears as he kissed back, body already craving more. 

“Come home with me,” Mr Stark said, as he pulled away. “You can stay at the estate since I doubt anyone will be concerned about impropriety. I’ll pay for the night so Mistress Fury doesn’t use your room and we can come back for your things tomorrow.”

Steve had never wanted something so much in his life. “Yes. Please.”

A coat was slipped over his shoulders and he turned to see Nat giving him a pleased smile. He hugged her, promising to tell her everything when he came back.

Then he took his  _ fiance’s _ arm and let Mr Stark help him into the carriage that waited outside. 

As their hands grazed, Mr Stark brought his hand up to kiss. “Thank you.”

“For what?” Steve asked

“For waiting for me. I’m sorry I took so long.”

Steve shook his head. “No. I know you’re a good man. I shouldn’t have doubted.”

“No, really, this was my doing. Perhaps I should have said something, but in my defence it’s hard to focus when I’m around you.”

“Good lord,” Mr Rhodes said from behind him. “Go without me. I have no doubt being in that carriage will be like watching two seals at the circus fighting over a grape. I’ll find entertainment elsewhere, keep myself away from the house for the rest of the evening.” He tipped his hat. “Mr Rogers. Stark.” 

Steve watched the man walk off with a whistle, and snorted at Mr Stark’s offended expression as he climbed into the carriage. “The nerve.”

“Was he wrong?” Steve asked, letting a little of his need seep into his words.

Mr Stark stared at him for a moment before grinning. “I think not.”

Steve reached across the space between them to grasp Mr Stark by the cravat and tugged him forward. “I don’t think so either.” And he leaned in for a kiss.

It felt like coming home, the heat under his skin flaring to life as he kissed the man he loved. They pulled away for a moment, and Mr Stark looked rather dazed as he knocked against the roof, signalling to the driver to leave. 

As the carriage started off, the gentle rocking signalling the beginning of his new life, Steve pulled Mr Stark forward, kissing him again.

This was a dream, but one that had come true. This loving, generous man was his, against all odds, and Steve would never have to let him go. Never again.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! - if you'd like to leave a comment but don't know what to say, I love emojis!!! ❤️
> 
> Come say hi! Follow me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/BladeoftheNebu1)/[Tumblr](https://bladeofthenebula27.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Join the [Put on the Suit (18+) server](https://discord.gg/z5WSqbS) over on discord to hang out with fellow stony fans! It’s a super welcoming community and we have a lot of fun ♥️


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